The Weekly 'What are you playing?' Discussion - 20-07-2023

Quinten@lemmy.worldmod to Games@lemmy.world – 270 points –

Have you been spending hours trying to pass a level? Or maybe you are completely addicted to a newly bought game. Do you have a question about a game or would like to share something else? In the Weekly Discussion Thread, you can do it all!

Please don't forget to use the spoiler tag as soon as you start talking about a storyline.

295

Dave the Diver! Honestly one of the most fun games I’ve played in a long time

It's interesting how experiences can vary. I just returned it because I wasn't enjoying it, which was a shame because it looks great.

What makes it fun for you?

Personally, right when I start to get bored, the game throws a new mechanic or mission out there. The 3D mixed with pixel art is well done. I was initially upset about the spear gun controls, but after getting used to it it is nice.

I’ve been playing for hours every day for weeks now.

What an absolutely charming game.

I've been replaing "The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess" and loving the Nostalgia throwback.

The HD version on WiiU or the SD Version on GC/Wii? Are you gonna go for 100% or just a casual playthrough? :)

Personally TP has to be my favorite Zelda title, I replay it casually every 2 years or so.

I am Playing on Wii with 480p, I'll probably 100% when I get the time to do it. It's awesome to revisit it from time to time :)

Good luck on the canoe mini game then!! Was often one of the hardest for me to get the 100% lol

I think that one was ok, I am only scared of the marble minigame. The true test of strength and patience.

The world is mirror imaged on Wii! I did my first playthrough on wii and second playthrough on WiiU HD and I kept thinking things were on the opposite side of the map. Love this game, fantastic dungeons, just wish bosses were harder

And it's mirrored for exactly one reason: motion controlls. Since link is actually a left handed he should swing his sword with his left arm but that would feel off if you are swinging with your right hand. So they simply fliped everything. Yeah the bosses are not hard if you know what to do. But they managed to make them feel epic, regardless of difficult.

Exoprimal. It’s the exact dumb fun I want it to be with its own little sense of humor that actually works somewhat. If you have Gamepass it is a no-brainer. I’m not sure about $60 or $70 or whatever it’s retailing at yet but this will undoubtedly be a game with a huge surge in users when they start selling it for $30 and under. The PvPvE format works very well for it, it gives you a real sense of urgency and has you moving very quickly. Gives the fights and deaths real stakes that aren’t just resetting progression or something.

It has no right to be as fun as it is. Almost good as bonus existence

"Summoning: Tyrannosaurus. Consider this elevated threat an opportunity for professional growth."

I’ve been enjoying this a lot too. Finished the story. Was just a wacky good time.

I love the pacing of the missions. They’ve really thought it through, which is not something I see with such flagrant GAAS games. The random mission changes and story elements popping in really keeps the game fresh. Yesterday in the middle of a really heated match against another team, we suddenly got dropped into an arena and all of us had to work together to take down a neo T-Rex. That was so cool and I was not expecting it at all. if that’s the kind of experience I can regularly expect from this game, then they will have my attention at least for a few months.

They are really in your face about buying things, but I am unlocking things at a steady clip so credit where credit is due. You definitely don’t need to buy your way into the game.

I have been replaying Divinity 2. I had forgotten how good this game plays and looks. AND I was watching a "Let's Play" of DOS2 and noticed I missed some areas and stuff I didn't know I could do. So much dept and different ways to do things.

I was replaying DOS2 on my Linux gaming PC with an XBox controller because I think the controller will play similar on Baldur's Gate 3.

Fun days ahead soon exploring the world of Faerun and Baldur's Gate.

I’ve been replaying as Fane and it’s still so much fun. I’m almost 500 hours in and still can play a new story line.

I’m close to hitting maximum hype for BG3.

Ayy, I'm also currently playing DOS2. Recently remembered that I never finished it; started a co-op campaign of it with my ex on PS4 years ago, then had a house fire and never bought another console. In early Act IV now, so I should have time to finish it up before BG3 releases.

DOS2 is a great game, and I'm enjoying my playthrough (running ranger Ifan, rogue Sebille, geo/pyro Fane, aero/hydro Lohse)but it doesn't hit quite the same as the early access parts of BG3. Hard to put my finger on why, exactly. Maybe the more cinematic dialogue camera makes the characters in BG3 feel weightier. Anyhow, pretty hyped for the 3rd.

Yea the cinematics was the only thing missing in Divinity 2. The voice acting is great. I think Larian knew this when they started Baldur's Gate 3 and made the big commitment to correct this.

Battlebit, it's everything I wanted in the latest Battlefield titles and more, but made by 3 indie devs. Map votes, weapon attachments, classes, local voice chat, destruction, scoreboard, night mode on all maps... It's great.

I just can’t get it to “click” for me and I don’t know why; I should love it. I shall persevere.

The top rated comment on here when it first came out was "Everyone talking positively about it must be a shill, there's no way a game can be that good"

It really just is that good!

Witcher 3

Never played a Witcher before and I knew I’d like it so I picked it up in the steam sale and man, I was right. I love it so much.

This might be one of my favorite games. So much replay value if you don't look up spoilers. If you didn't get heart of stone or blood and wine, you REALLY need to. They are like entire games themselves.

I got the whole bundle with all the DLCs so I am excited to get into it. I’m not very far in, only a couple hours but I am enjoying the hell out of it. Almost been late to work because I keep staying up too late playing it lol

Unpopular opinion but I didnt really like this game. My favorite games are souls like and I found I was spending more time walking around and talking than I was killing monsters . Also all of my weapons would break so quick. Maybe I was doing something wrong because everyone seems to really like these games

You really can play the game however you want. There are a bunch of monster contracts you can do if all you want to do is fight monsters, and a bunch of side quests involve fighting more monsters along the way. And some of the story show you some of the worst monsters are actually humans. The durability is a pain, but once you build up some cash, you can buy repair kits that make long travels easier. Otherwise, repair every time you are in a town/city. The game has a lot to it and starts kind of slow but once you get into it (about Crows Perch and the Baron storyline), it's a ton of fun.

1 more...
1 more...

Yooo I've also been replaying it. I've 100% it already but with the next gen updates there were a good chunk of changes. I've been loving it all over again.

This was my first introduction to the Witcher world. Currently playing this too and I love it. I actually abandoned the game halfway the first time because my computer was overheating. By the time I fixed it, and a couple of many Paradox games later, it was more than year before I went back to the Witcher. Restarted, and holy hell, this game amazes me in how many different paths one can take in this game.

I’ve tried two times now to play it through but I always end up quitting the game around 25 hours and I don’t even know why.

I still haven't played it. I felt like I should play the first couple before I play #3, but I started this first one, got distracted, and now it's been years.

Do you feel like you missed out on understanding things by starting with Witcher 3 vs. playing the others first?

I think the story is standalone enough that you don't need to play them, but I actually think the first 2 games are kinda underrated bangers. Super janky and weird but if you can learn to appreciate them for what they are there's a lot to enjoy

1 more...
1 more...
2 more...

I’ve finally gave in and tried Vampire Survivors… what have I done. I didn’t realize it was 3AM by the time I put my handheld down and suffering at work today.

Outside of that been casually replaying Halo CE and **Midnight Club 2 **

Once you've beat Vampire Survivors you can lose more time playing Halls of Torment. You can curse me later

I'm waiting for Baldur's Gate 3, I've been saving myself from spoilers ever since early access started. I got some time off work for the launch of the full version that's a couple of weeks from now, and plan to sink some good hours into that. Until then I'm wasting time with random games like Brotato, hades, hearthstone battlegrounds, diablo 4, civ 6 and a whole bunch of others.

I'm in the exact same situation. Got 2 weeks off scheduled for Baldur's Gate 3 release and I'm currently just replaying Outer Worlds and Tyranny to pass the time while I wait.

I've played almost every RPG I own in the past year trying to hold off on one last EA playthrough of BG3. Haven't touched it since the infamous CONTENT PENDING era and I really want to go from that jank-ass period of EA straight into the full version.

It's been really hard.

I've been working a lot, so I've been decompressing with No Man's Sky

I don't spend too much on games and only buy if they're on sale.

Recently bought sleeping dogs for $2 and finished it 2 days ago. It was a 10/10 experience. Definitely suggest everyone to try it.

Other than that I've been playing Deep Rock Galactic.

Also bought Sleeping Dogs in the Summer Sale and I'm playing it on my Steam Deck. I'm loving it so far.

1 more...
1 more...

I’ve been playing Metroid Prime: Remastered. It’s amazing to see the beauty of the world in this game, but kid me must of had way more patience for the backtracking

Minecraft for the first time! With my 5 y/o who sits on his tablet. It's dangerous for us both.

I remember losing so much sleep when I first played Minecraft a decade ago, it's one of those games that I wish I could experience for the first time again.

Days Gone. New to me. My pet peeve is that the motorcycle is a piece of junk. It's got like 1.5 gallon gas tank and gets something like 2km/gallon. Or maybe it's 1 mpg, but the game uses metric for distances and imperial for volume.

I'm playing that one now too. You're right, it's annoying that you can only drive for like two or three minutes on the bike before it's out of fuel. But I quickly got used to looking for fuel cans and planning around gas stations. There are enough of them. It's a deliberate choice, I think, to increase your engagement with the world and prevent you from just driving through it.

Overall I'm very impressed with the game. The story is really engaging. The gameplay and mechanics are solid and well balanced. The rules are not always intuitive, but once you learn them they are consistent. The longer I play it the more time I want to spend with it.

I played through that fairly recently! Unexpected gem, I thought. In the early game, doing missions for Copeland's camp will eventually get you access to a larger fuel tank. The best rewards, imo, were the guns you unlock by taking down hordes.

Just finished TOTK so now I'm starting Diablo 4

How different is it from 3? There were a lot of complaints when it first came out. But I was wondering how much of that was just people being a bit overzealous.

Honestly, barely played 3. Tried to get into it but it wasn't my cup of tea at the time. Now that my gaming preferences have changed and I play with friends it's a bit more up my alley. I like it though but I'm very early in the game (level 13).

Playing Subnautica (original) for the first time and absolutely loving it!

Using a few QOL mods, I've given Subnautica 500+ hours of my life. It's an excellent indie title that more game developers need to look at as an example of what they should be chasing.

would you mind listing off a few of those? it's clunkiness is a lot of why i haven't been able to get into something that by all rights should be right up my alley.

I just bought it, after my brother showed it to me. It looks really good.

Got into Rimworld for the first time and I've gone down such a rabbit hole that I don't know if I can ever stop. I've never played such a completely engrossing game before.

I’ve finally caved and got it. I think I’ve made a terrible mistake…

I just picked up all the DLC in the last steam sale so I'm getting back into it. I've played a lot of dwarf fortress so the QoL improvements Rimworld brings are awesome (though I still prefer DF's simulation granularity).

My Prophet and Leader got married and have 2 children so I'm trying to decide how exactly I want to develop my ideology into a cult centered around that family. Though it's rough going right now because I embarked without a good builder so I can't build AC units.

Haven't used much of the Royalty/psychic powers other than building a throne, though.

I've been meaning to pick up Rimworld for years, but it never seems to go on sale for more than 15% off. Consequently, I haven't been able to justify buying it. Suppose I'll eventually get to play a very polished version.

Skyrim

Me too. And I feel bad for replying it AGAIN.

Same here. This time I completely ignored the main quest and finished Dawnguard and Dragonborn first. ::: spoiler spoiler It was fun to kill Miraak with Auriel's Bow. :::

7 Days to Die - Incredible game, when it's modded, it never gets old

Guardians of the Galaxy - everything is amazing except the combat. The combat is really, really mind numbing and repetitive. Makes me wish the game would just be over already.

Dinkum - Pretty bland. Its fun at first but you quickly start asking yourself why you're even doing the grind.

Planet Crafter - More addicting than fun. But still an overall enjoyable experience.

PlateUp! - play this with my wife. Very fun and very challenging!

I also loved GoTG outside of the combat. How I stayed engaged was trying to get the achievements for each other guardians to powers, made for some challenges.

Nothing, sadly, way too much work. But I'm planning to get back to my backlog soon.

Same here. Hopefully I have some time this weekend. Otherwise Soon™

  • Chilling out to No Man's Sky after not playing it for a long time. A great game to zone out to.
  • Revisiting The Outer Worlds, just as good as I remember it being

Dave the Diver .... This game took me by surprise.. it is SO addictive!

Also Witcher III which I've played before but I've lost my save games and it was in summer sale at Steam including the add-ons I don't know yet so I couldn't resist ❤️

I practically live in Hyrule (TotK).

Dead cells.

I discovered it when it was mentioned in a book by Cory Doctorow. It's an absolutely fantastic rogue-like game.

+1 for Dead Cells, that game is so good.

I haven't played in awhile but I think I was stuck on 3 Boss Cells

Also, do you mind telling me what book mentioned it? That surprised me lol

Did a second playthrough of XCOM Enemy Unknown, and now I'm on to XCOM 2, which I never got into more than a few missions.

There’s a distinct increase in difficulty in 2. God help you if you don’t have the right builds to take down Sectopods in the late game shivers

EU/EW had that mission though, which was a lot more arbitrary “fuck you” than anything in XCOM2. At least until the Chosen showed up.

Playing 2 right now and I love it, but the difficulty! Playing on the easiest difficulty just to figure out what's going on everywhere.

Taking a break from DotA 2 atm.

Filling the free time with Binding of Isaac and Factorio.

Lost and Jakob runs costing me my last nerves

Going from one time sink (Dota) to a time black hole Factorio.

Been playing Cultic on Steam Deck and Street Fighter 6 on PS5. Cannot wait for the new Armored Core!

Slay the spire. Advancing ascension levels with all characters.

As someone who's finished ascension 20 on all characters on 3 devices now, it gets unfair later but it's so worth it when things come together. Good luck!

I finally caved in and started playing Spiderman Remastered. The combat is pretty simple but it's a lot of fun, and swinging around the city feels great. For some reason the game really likes making you play as MJ and Miles in bad stealth missions though. They're just so boring and I try to speedrun through them but every other mission just wants you to not play as spiderman and it's killing the pacing for me.

The story is also a little disappointing. There's so much spiderman material out there and it feels like they decided to do something more kid-friendly, at least so far. The villains are over the top, it doesn't feel like there's any stakes or drama and everyone is just really shallow. I'm still halfway through so maybe the ending will surprise me (doubt it).

Overall I'd say it's a fun game, but it's not really Amazing or Spectacular.

Still playing Street Fighter 6 daily. What an absolute gem of a game, and has taken most of my time recently. Hyped as hell for Rashid, and probably going to try and get my Manon to Diamond before he releases.

Started a bit of Baldurs Gate 3, loved it, and decided to just wait til it releases in a couple weeks now. So have played a bit of Forza Horizon 5, I never came back at the launch of the Rally DLC, but have been really enjoying it, and is a nice twist on the formula(time trial with call outs rather than the braking line), definitely worth trying if you missed it like myyself.

Other than that, about to start Season 1 of Diablo 4... I am not overly excited, and this will probably be the make or break for me on if I continue to check it out every season or not.

Finally found time to get into Read Dead Redemption 2 and I must say it's pretty great. Game releases in the past decade have been a conveyor belt of garbage but this one is the exception.

I've been really enjoying Halls of Torment, it's like if Vampire Survivors and Hades had a child.

This looks dope, thank you!

If you dont mind another recommendation, Backpack Hero

If you do mind, apologies

I do not mind at all lol thank you

If you like roguelites I also enjoyed Skul and Dead Cells if you haven't checked them out

I think i have them onbmy wishlist already!

Jagged Alliance 3. New game from Haemimont (Tropico/Surviving Mars). It's way different than those other two games, but I'm enjoying it so far.

Been playing a lot of Binding of Isaac recently. Gotten pretty far too! Just unlocked Ashpits and mausoleum so theres bunch more to do now

Control, story based, owned it for awhile and I finally have the GPU to play it.

Next is The Wircher III as I plan on reading the books. Currently finishing The Three Body Problem series.

I've just finished Control; picked up the enhanced edition (includes the DLCs), and thoroughly enjoyed it. The combat feels satisfying once you get the mechanics down, and I loved the plot/environment. Like playing a mash-up of the SCP Wiki and The Lost Room.

Oh 100% a fantastic game so far. I am waiting for more abilities. I love powerful woman with a weapon of any sort.

Im replaying portal 2 again and after that im going to play serious sam

Playing Divinity Original Sin 2 one more time with a couple of friends before Baldur's Gate 3 launches. Aside from that, also been trying out Wildermyth and it's been fun so far.

Darktide.

It's bad and I should feel bad for playing it, but once you get past the absurdly long load times, janky cutscenes, regular crashes and absolute lack of any story or plotline, it's got remarkably addictive gameplay, and it's the only game that actively encourages your inner fanatic to pick up their boltgun and chainsword and KILL THE HERETICS.

It's like finding a kilo of PCP laced weed at the bottom of the dumpster behind the 7-11. I shouldn't like it, and it will probably kill me, but for some reason I can't stop smoking it.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor, similar to old one but you know, it feels good being a Jedi🔥

I'm off the bike for a few weeks with a right arm radial head fracture after I biffed it hitting a pothole while checking my map, so I'm using it as an excuse to play the Tale Of Two Wastelands mod for Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Trying to see how much of both games I can get through before I'm cleared to bike again.

Divinity original sin 2. The anticipation of BG3 has got me re playing old rpgs and trying out some new ones.

1 more...

Bouncing between Xenoblade 2, WoW classic, BotW, and Gregtech. I have little time on weekdays- only an hour or two to screw around before work.

Master Detective Archives: Rain Code

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Bio Prototype

Obduction. By Cyan, the studio that made he Myst series. It's an adventure game with intricate puzzles, and it's been blowing my mind for the last few days.

I’ve been heavily into iRacing lately. Just upgraded my rig and pedals! When I’m not playing that, I have a Madden franchise with my friends that’s been going for like 20 years in game and that’s been a lot of fun.

Other than that, dipping my toes back into Civ, and trying unsuccessfully to convince my friends to try Barotrauma again…

Pokemon Crystal Clear! It's a Crystal romhack that adds in a fuckton of QoL changes and customization. Currently up to 1248 soft-resets, waiting for a shiny Snorlax. Also had to defeat him 250 times to get a chain going that helps with the odds of getting a shiny.

EDIT: Got my shiny Snorlax! Named her Blueberry. c: Strength, Belly Drum, Amnesia, and Defense Curl while holding Leftovers is one hell of an effective moveset.

Good old Sid Meier's Civilization - Beyond Earth. I really love this game for it's slow pace and depth.

Always playing Kenshi. Just can't put it down.

Also just reinstalled Seven Kingdoms AA for the 100th time. Still one of my favourite games.

Just beat tears of the kingdom. I think if totk had been released instead of botw it probably would've been one of the best games ever made... But with it being a follow up to botw it just felt way too similar for me to enjoy it. I essentially 100%ed botw so had no desire to just redo it again in totk. Basically just ran through the main story, did whatever side quests were easy, then fought Ganon. In a vacuum it was still a great game but I was sad it was so similar to botw.

Now playing the system shock remake. I beat 2 for the first time a few years ago and loved prey so have been excited to start it. Enjoying it so far for sure.

Started Remnant with a few friends, we played about 4 hours and are all dark souls/elden ring vets and were having a really rough go at it... Turns out I forgot I had set the difficulty to apocalypse (the hardest difficulty)...

Remnant is a blast, 2nd one comes out tomorrow (for preorders) woot!

Not playing yet, but I am SO excited for Remnant 2. It's one of the few 3rd person shooter games that I stuck with.

This week I've used the Game Pass availability as an excuse to play through Grand Theft Auto V (and to be reminded of all the reasons I dropped it in the first place). I've also played through The Case of the Golden Idol, which is too goddamn short; I need more puzzles. I've only got one DLC puzzle left and I am going to take it slow and savour it. I'm also a decent way into TOEM and have started on Techtonica because, you know, Game Pass.

No mans sky. Had it for a while, time to explore planets.

I finally got around to playing it a couple months ago and enjoyed it overall. I love the ship designs and spent so much time just watching ships come and go at spaceports. At the same time it was frustrating because it is really hard to find that perfect ship. In ant case though, it was really cool learning all the ship naming conventions and components. I also loved how so many of the ship styles are diversr and each cool in their own right. Some enjoy a viper with starscream boosters and a box thrusters and others may prefer a heavy jet with vector wings and a triple thrusters. Ahh, such cool combinations! In anycase, there are many different ways to enjoy the gsme so have a good run!

Thanks so much, thats what Im doing right now! Repairing a ship, building a base. So so much fun

Apex Legends: Been playing since Season 0 with my SO and brother and I think it's honestly the longest I've ever played a single game. The gunplay just feels so good.

Tears of the Kingdom: Still working my way through it, taking my time exploring. Honestly it's such a great game, but I have to say the resource gathering is getting a little tedious. I like the weapon durability mechanic from the angle of being forced to switch up your fighting style, but I wish there was a way to repair weapons between fights.

Finishing up TotK and Pokémon sword. Also replaying dark souls 2.

According to Steam Fallout 4, Big Ambitions and Factorio.

Playing through sekiro . Damn that game is hard at .

My favourite fromsoft game! Struggled a ton my first playthrough but once it clicks it clicks forever. I came back to do another playthrough a couple years later and I never forgot the parry timings, was able to take down every boss in only a couple tries

Picked up Hades again after Hades 2 was announced. It’s still fantastic. Can’t wait for the sequel.

1 more...

Like 3 months ago I bought Mi first dedicated graphics card: an used rx570 and, after many years on my list, I grab Black Mesa in discount like 2 weeks ago.. That and doom 2016 are the games I'm into right now...

Didn’t play the first one, but I’m hyped for Remnant 2.

Discovered Remnant 2 last week 😃

It’s not out until the 25th 😕

Early access is available the 21st 🙌🏻

Realizing I’m out out town 20th-23rd 💀

I got the first one for free from the epic games store awhile ago and had a great time with it . Souls like mixed with over the shoulder shooter is a really cool concept.

Hunt: Showdown!

Exploring the Bayou in my holidays. Enjoying to play in different day- & weather type and it looks nice.

Game called Necesse. Still early access but what's out now feels like terraria (pre hard mode only) mixed with a colony sim. Super excited to see where it goes in the future.

I got myself Cult of the Lamb, finally, and it's been an absolute blast.

Outside of that, I play a lot of ESO, and am trying to finish up the dead god achievement in Binding of Isaac. Both are also fantastic

Just wrapped up getting gold on every license in GT7 last night. Looking at the rest of the trophies and aiming for my first platinum.

Have put a fair few hours into Space Haven, but think I may have reached the end of the playable content I enjoy for now. Maybe I need to do a pirate run…

Nox Archaist - Wasn't expecting much, was blown away. Definetily not for everyone, but personally I think it's the most engaging game I've played this year. Surpasses even Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

And just to make it clear: this is not a shit post. I really enjoy Nox Archaist so much.

TES Skyrim - It's like a hideout for the past 11 years. Grim Dawn - Use it to get rid of the stress. The Sims 3 - When I want to build something.

Halls of Torment. $5 game on steam that is like a Vampire Survivors clone, but with more rpg elements to it.

I was playing Arkham Asylum since it was the only Arkham game I didn't finish as yet

City gets all the love but Asylum is fantastic. Arkham Knight really surprised me with how fun it was, too. I couldn't get into Origins, but I had just played the others back to back so I may have been burnt out lol

My nephew is really into Plants vs Zombies, and I'll admit, it's sucked me in too. I'm trying to impress him by getting my name at a respectable position on the Endless Leaderboard on Xbox, but I'm having some trouble with my controller missing button presses when I go to arm a Cob Cannon for missile launch.

I can't believe I'm actually considering upgrading to an Xbox Series S in order to get smoother performance out of Plants Vs Fucking Zombies...

I’m all into TOEM at the moment. Cute little game!

Supersymmetry minecraft modpack, it's an alpha gregtech Minecraft modpack, pretty cool (a youtuber is doing a supersymmetry smp tomorrow, and I'm gonna be in)

So what does it actually add?

A lot, but the modpack is a questbook tech-based modpack aiming to have very realistic recipes, along with plenty of mob mods and techguns

Isn't that just GregTech in general?

It sort of feels like a cross between nomifactory gtceu and gtnh

Looking to finish Hogwarts legacy before I leave for vacation since i hate how it plays with a controller, and I'm taking my deck on the road, so no mouse/keyboard.

I'll probably finish breath of the wild and give a crack to emulating tears of the kingdom while away, fallback will probably be either Yakuza 3 or something like that.

Star citizen.Tried it during the free fly event, loved it. Even though it's a piece of shit, it is one of the best pieces of shit I have ever seen/played.

Been playing a couple different things, when I have time and energy after work. Occasional heist in Payday 2 to get back into it before 3 comes out. Finally got a switch, so starting to check out breath of the wild and super mario oddessy as well.

Been playing a lot of vampire survivors this week, it's quite relaxing after a long work day. But it's pikmin 4 day now, that'll be my whole weekend.

have you tried out the new engine? it runs so smooth now at late game (its currently available under betas on steam, but will become the main branch next month iirc.)

I haven't, but that good to hear it'll run smoother in the late game! Only made it far in the second level for now, but that'll make the experience all that more better as I progress thru the game.

I've been playing a lot of rainbow six siege quick play and call of duty MW2's DMZ game modes. I feel like one gives me the tactical fair shooter, and the other gives me a meaningfully paced combat loop.

Im a little pissed that the battle pass for diablo 4 doesn't work with my regular character. I just feel so estranged from that game since it costed so much and the combat and tasks just felt so dry. I guess the upside is that I have 90 days of the pass to hack away at it which isn't terribly pressing. I just wish their monetization strategy was like Halo Infinites battle passes where you could choose which one to progress on.

The Isle (beta branch)

So much fun growing up as a Dino in a Dino eat Dino world. At the best of times it can be scary as hell.

I have been playing the first season of Diablo 4 and it's been fun, not because of Diablo but because it's what my friends are doing.

Played through Persona 4 Golden this week and to fix my post persona depression I started Persona 5 Royal today.

Playing The Fractured But Whole for almost a month now, it's a pretty enjoyable experience and it feels just like playing an episode of the show, liking it a lot so far.

For now I'm playing Battlebit Remastered and Remnant From the Ashes whilst I wait for the Early Access release of Remnant 2.

I’ve been bouncing between final fantasy XVI and Jedi survivor. Slowly making my way through the games and enjoying both.

I picked up 2 copies of Helldivers for me and my partner during the steam sale. Game is great fun and runs smoothly on steam deck. Totally worth $5.

This week has been keeping up with Honkai Star Rail dailies. I haven't done the new patch content yet, but I'm just spending my energy getting resources and leveling my team.

Beyond that, I've been grinding some casual matches in Street Fighter 6. My local card shop is hosting a small tournament on Saturday, and I at least want my BnB combos to land. I don't think I'll win, but playing in Platinum is at least showing me where my weaknesses are.

Last but not least, I got Baldur's Gate 3 for the early access bit. It's fun, if a bit slow, and can be pretty punishing. Not sure if I'll play the full game by save scumming or just living (and dying) with the consequences of my actions.

Actually finished both my current games and a freebie.

Luigi's Mansion 3 started great but its pacing feels bizarre by the end. The floors started feeling pretty long and then you have two boss only flaws in a row, then a good floor followed by two more boss floors. Maybe busting out so many variations hurt it be size the ordinary floors always felt the most enjoyable.

Tunic started off enjoyable but the gameplay never hit and the last secret I did made me angry with how it was presented.

I LOVED Tunic at first but I'm at the final boss and just never finished it. I'm pretty sure I missed some pages that would have really helped me out and some of the secrets with the lines just felt too hard. Maybe I'll eventually beat it and do a ng+ but I ended up being a little disappointed

Nothing at the moment because I bought a new GPU and power supply, and somehow borked my whole computer just installing than.

Currently trying to get through FFXVI, but there are times it feels like a slog. Am in the midst of one if these low points right now.

As for what I’ll be playing, my StepmaniaX compact machine shows up tomorrow, so I’ll have that to assemble and play.

Wife and I are trading off between Harvestella (mostly her) and Outer Worlds (mostly me). In Outer Worlds I'm on the third planet and rather enjoying the examination of extremism. It's fun. In Harvestella I'm still in late Spring, just got to the first set of branching quests. I'm a sucker for JRPGs, so I'm really excited to share this with my wife. Her favorite game is Stardew Valley, so it is that right crossover of genres to get her into JRPGs. Which reminds me, we were playing Chrono Trigger together a few years back and stopped at the Black Omen because of some family emergency. Like, three hours to go until we were done unless we wanted to go for all the endings. aaaaaaaaaaa

Playing Forza Horizon 4 and Super Mario Odyssey right now. Games I have had on my backlog for too long.

Nearing the end of Trails of Cold Steel IV after spending the past several months working my way from Cold Steel I. I'm planning to get Trails into Reverie at some point, but will probably play the fan-translated Kuro no Kiseki first.

Have you played liberl and crossbell? Over covid I played all of them up to cold steel 3. Waited until 4 released but I think by the time it did I realized I was pretty burned out on it. Also heard some negative things about kuro so wasn't really too eager to try.

I played a good deal of Trails in the Sky way back when on the PSP, but never finished it. Haven't played any of the others, I figured I'd just skip to the 3D ones. The games do a good job of making you feel nostalgic for characters from games you've never played, so I don't feel like I missed out on too much. If you liked III and ever feel like jumping back in I'd recommend IV - it has its issues, but I think someone who's been there from the beginning will get even more out of it than I did because there are a LOT of legacy characters featured.

I'm liking the small amount of Kuro I've played so far, but I definitely have my doubts I'll ever like the characters as much as Class VII. We'll see in many years once Kuro III is available in English (whether officially or not)!

Yeah so I was basically in the same boat as you when I first started. Played like half of trails in the sky 1 forever ago and then started with cold steel 1, then beat it and 2 and 3. Then looped back. I really do think there is something to gain by playing liberl and crossbell; liberl especially stuck out to me. I know crossbell is more acclaimed and it was definitely good but I think just how the game looks and the storyline is something else. Upon coming back to erebonia I realized how much I actually disliked those games compared to the others because of how ridiculous it was, what with all the girls falling over rean and some of the other plot points. ::: spoiler spoiler ___The mecha reveal fight was pretty badass though and kind of blew my mind though lol :::

Anyways if you like the series you should definitely play them even if you think you don't need to. All the references and character reappearances are mind blowing. I do want to at least finish 4 at some point, to give some kind of closure.

Yes, the harem aspect of Cold Steel was definitely not something I liked, but as a fan of anime I've just accepted that sometimes I have to cringe through some of the tropes. "Angelica is a lesbian and sexually harasses every female she sees, isn't it funny??"

You should play IV and Reverie if you want closure - I hear that the Crossbell Arc actually gets most of the screen time in Reverie.

Eternal Return just launched out of beta so I'm going to be grinding that for the foreseeable future.

Backlog… so Far Cry 4

Heh, I beat that one a few years ago finally and I mentioned it to a friend of mine and he said, slightly confused "dude that game's like 6 years old."

I've been playing Exoprimal. I definitely wouldn't have paid $60 for it, but it's actually pretty fun - even though it's primarily PVE, it really scratches the role-based hero gameplay I wanted out of Overwatch's smoking wreck. In fact, keeping the shift primarily away from PVP (usually until endgame of each round) makes it so if you're getting bodied by a much better team, you still get to play before having your group inefficiencies exposed at the end. That's much better than an entire match being miserable with constant respawning.

Reviewers told that after 10 hours they didn't want to play more, when you will it 10 hours, tell ke if you are still interested in it because I want to play it but I don't want to waste 60 bucks

Started playing through Far Cry 6 w a friend

Finally got into X4: Foundations after remapping all the controls and I’m about 300 hours down the rabbit hole total and 90 on my current save.

An Advanced Electronics and Turret Component bottleneck is crippling almost every faction preventing ship and station building.

I’m desperately trying to get my own stations producing while fighting off a Xenon invasion of the Free Families which has so far claimed 3 systems.

Been playing wrath of the righteous and Ghost Of Tsushima

I just bought a wheel and shifter, so I've just been cruising around in Forza.

Mainly trying to get used to it because it's not the same as driving irl.

Started playing Hardspace Shipbreaker because the concept seemed interesting. And Holy moly this is just so satisfying to play. I guess now I know why people play other work simulators

Finally reached Phase 4 fornthe first time in Satisfactory, so I started another playthrough of Hollow Knight to celebrate.

Well, originally my plans were to check out the newly launched Season 1 of Diablo 4, but the news on that has been very... whelming to say the least. I haven't crossed it off the list yet, but it surely won't have any sort of priority for me.

I'll probably be trying to spend a little bit of time in Destiny 2 for the Solstice event, but that also depends - past versions of it were incredibly grindy and I'm already a bit burnt out on D2.

Other than that, I've been having fun kicking back and playing the American and Euro Truck sim games, while listening to a podcast or having a TV show playing on the second screen. No time limited events, no pressure, and how much "grinding" I want is completely up to me. It's a quite nice change of pace from the live-service model of recent games.

I used to be a destiny addict as well. I quit almost 10 months ago now and I’m happier for it. Games that aren’t live service feel more fun to me. I’ve been playing a bunch of different games now after just playing the one for so long. (Satisfactory, Gunfire Reborn, Deep Rock Galactic, Risk of Rain 2, and Fortnite no build or overwatch when I want to shoot real digital people )

I certainly don't blame you! I've pretty much taken a break from it this season, haven't even gotten a chance to finish the new dungeon. I did pick up Deep Rock Galactic during the summer sale, and its been fun so far!

Flip-flopping between Minecraft Bedrock and Techtonia. The latter just came out and i'm struggling my way through it

A bunch of ocarina of time randomizer and World of Warcraft.

Any map-staring enthusiasts? I've been playing Europa Universals 4 lately.

Started as Ethiopia, got up to Egypt before the Ottomans but they got Syria. I got all of the Arabian Peninsula and nearly all of East/Central Africa, but I've been so behind in tech that I can't actually challenge the Ottos (kept them at bay by allying a strong Poland/Commonwealth). Finally, around 1600 I'm caught up and about to start making my final push towards Constantinople.

XCOM2 and PGA Tour and watching my wife post Skyrim.

I must admit, I thought xcom2 kinda sucked when I played it, but I was watching one of my favorite YouTubers these past weeks, and, apparently, there are dlcs and mods, which makes it really fun looking, so I'm definitely going to play again.

I wanted so badly since last year to play the whole god of war series, but I don't have much time. So every time I have off from work, it is my mission to progress in the series! I started god of war (PS4) yesterday, and wow, it's amazing (I loved them all though until now, but the old series is more about fun and the new one much deeper and full of emotions).

Enjoying the hell out of Beat Saber after sleeping on it for way too long. It almost feels like self-improvement as well, the higher difficulties are a workout and a half and with the massive amounts of custom songs available it's not likely to get boring anytime soon.

I do wish it wasn't mandatory to speed up the songs to get on the leaderboards, none of these tracks are improved by being played at whatever multiplier they use.

Chained Echoes, some great fights in this game

Ys 8. My first Ys game and damn it is awesome..

Just finished Rayman Origins. Nearly a decade old but the game still looks incredible. Moving on to Zelda Link Between Worlds on 3DS now

I’ve been playing Helldivers. Local 2 player co-op with an additional +2 online. Arrowhead, if you can hear me, please let the sequel have this as well. The multiplayer/co-op is what has given this game its longevity. It’s so much fun plain and simple!

Just started Dave the Diver, about 15 hours in. It has a fair bit of content and the "mini games" don't feel too out of place.

Also felt the itch to spin up a new minecraft mod pack instance, so I started feed the factory, a mod pack inspired by factorio. Encourages you to build big systems in bulk with rows and rows of massive machines. Very satisfying. I also hate dealing with mobs, and the mod pack is basically in peaceful mode, focusing primarily on building, so it's right up my alley.

I recently finished Storyteller. It's a short game and you can finish it in a day, but boy does it look gorgeous and boy does it keep your noggin activated.

I've been absolutely addicted to Enter The Gungeon, tryna get all the achievements. Probably the GOAT roguelike

Voices of the Void. It's a pretty sweet indie game on itch that's currently free. You play as a scientist who's been sent solo to man a radio observatory and send back any interesting radio signals you can find.

The game is still a "demo" but you can play everything that's been developed so far and it gets regular updates. It's being made in unreal engine but it's been dressed up to look like a hybrid of goldsrc half-life and Gmod. There are a lot of different signals, some boring, some... interesting, along with a lot of Easter eggs, secrets, places to explore and some forms of silliness. There are horror elements to the game, but I wouldn't say that it's really a horror game (unless you find aliens scary) because it tends to be pretty chill (though sometimes shit hits the fan).

It's free. Go try it. If you get into it and want help finding secrets, join the dev's discord. People catalog the stuff they've found there. Tbh it almost feels like you're stepping back in time to the time when your friend told you that he unlocked Luigi in Super Mario 64.

Spider-Man Web of Shadows for the DS. Recently downloaded some DS games so I decided to relive a classic from when I was a kid.

A bit of Oxenfree II. It's good so far. Their previous game Afterparty was a pretty limp experience IMO, but they've won me back. It's been a weirdly nostalgic time and the writing is solid. It leans on much of the lore of the first title, which means the mystery isn't so interesting this time around. But we'll see how it goes, it might surprise me.

Alternative opinion: absolutely loved Afterparty. They went in a totally different, comedic direction with it, but I personally enjoyed it a lot. And, honestly, liked Oxenfree II even more than the first one. Yes, it lacks novelty, but makes up for it with excellent writing.

Yeah fair enough, I can see why you'd get into it. I think the humour wasn't for me and I found the plot to be too low stakes. Art was great though.

Finished Oxenfree II, completely agree, writing was excellent. Characters are far more complex and the story was super thematically rich

Phantasy Star online 2: New Genesis

Waiting for Remnant 2 July 25 and Wayfinder August 15

Elden Ring. Vyke's War Spear and Madness only run. You can get the spear without a single fight.

I don’t see it here so I’ll say Gran Turismo 7 with the PSVR 2 and I have a really nice wheel and seat mount. It’s the best sim racing experience I’ve had to date.

Street Fighter 6! Looking forward to Remnant 2 though. The first was a sleeper hit with me.

Picked up a copy of battlebit 2 weeks ago. Managed to get maybe one hour in so far.

Wife and I have been working our way through Sons Of The Forest while we wait for Baldurs Gate, I'm hoping to get some time to myself soon so I can keep playing Metal Gear V

I started playing Sekiro and died so much I gave up. I moved on to RDR2.

Testing out the new WoW talent system and likely will swap back to private servers while I wait for one called Project Epoch. That and Skyrim on switch or Among Us if my kids make me play with them.

it's a lot of 7d2d lately, with the new updates that hit recently. not a super huge fan of some of the changes to progression, but it's at least reignited my interest in wasting another 800 hours smackin tress and shooting zombies.

I just finished The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos. It was fun. Nothing groundbreaking, but an entertaining turn-based party-based rpg, with an emphasis on tongue-in-cheek humor. I recommend it if you like that sort of thing.

Finally picked up God of War last week on sale, so I've started that now for the first time. Liking it so far after just around 2-1/2 hours, and looking forward to seeing how it unfolds.

Currently Dave The Diver. Vampire Survivors here and there when I need a quick fix. And Two Dots on the mobile phone. Been playing it for two days, which makes it pretty good.

I just beat aliens: dark descent. I thought it was pretty descent overall. Its kind of a real time strategy with slowmo or pause. It feels a lot like xcom but not turn based and honestly just less tactical overall as you can't issue individual commands, only commands to the whole squad. With that being my main criticism, I still enjoyed it as it did the Aliens feel pretty good, although parts of the plot were pretty silly. 7/10.

Cyberpunk 2077. I think I'm close to the end, finishing the side quests that have any substance to them and then the main story and I want more.

Between all the bugs, the glitching and the crashing, I should have been sick of it by now, but there's something about this setting and story that is just so gripping.

Can't stop thinking about what could have been if it lived up at least partially to the expectations.

I'm really curious, what is your platform of choice? I remember finishing the game, like, less than a year after its release and not encountering any serious bugs aside from rare visual glitches here and there, that was an Xbox version. Absolutely loved the game, probably would have loved it way less if encountered all the crashes that you mention.

Windows 10.

Thankfully the bugs have not been major. Stuff like an NPC going through a floor, a door not opening or a stolen car disappearing while I was in it. Visual glitches are numerous, like things popping in or disappearing as I get near them. Crashing has been less frequent since disabling RTX, but still happen occasionally. I use them as a good excuse to stop playing.

I still love this story and setting. Like I said, I dream about what could have been.

what bugs are you still encountering? I think the most common issue I encountered is NPC's T-Posing for a glimpse sometimes when they are rendered/loaded in view.

Finally getting around to Assassin's Creed Origins. As a lifelong fan of the franchise, I'm still coming to grips with the changes, but it is not bad at all.@quinten

I found once you got into act four or so of the story the game kind of became a slog, but there are some pretty great moments, and the protagonist is very well done. That being said, I think odyssey revises the changes much better and is just an unbelievable game

Finally a bit of Counter-Strike 2. Almost felt guilty for not being able to play much despite getting the coveted beta invite.

Diablo IV new season has started! I'm only few hours in but it's quite fun so far. Lots of people so live events are much more full. Weirdly enough the servers seem to be more stable too. I still hadn't had much luck with the new gimmick of putting hearts into your rings but it seems fun. The battlepass is quite interesting too. The season 0 lacked direction I feel unless you we're really hard core - now it's more approachable for casual market.

The Outer Worlds came up on humblebundle choice this much and I've just reached the second zone in the game and honestly it's awesome. People were reviewing that it's quite shallow and underdeveloped but I kinda like smaller feel. The story and production is entertaining - it feels like Fallout but more wackey. Some parts do feel like it could use more "RPG" though. Like the first big choice of the game didn't feel that impactful.

I was planning to play Diablo 4's first season this weekend, but the patch was an absolute middle finger to the entire player base. And the seasonal theme wasn't that interesting to begin with. So now I'm not playing much of anything.

I've been getting started with Techtonica and continuing to play Diablo IV - looking forward to giving a new seasonal character a go in D4

Hogwarts Legacy for PC. It’s a blast. There’s so much to do and explore. I’ve logged twenty hours and I’m not even halfway through the main storyline.

Asseto Corsa Competizione, back into it after a while. Working on my new profile's safety rating to be eligible for some leagues. The newer cars are fun, but I keep getting taken out by lower rank players which is making progress slow.

I will probably load up Transport Fever 2 this weekend. I got it on Summer Sale and really enjoyed the 2-3 hours or so I've put into it so far.

Should probably squealeze in some Diablo 3 but not very motivated. Also, very excited for Baldur's Gate 3 finally coming out. Gonna Bard it up!